ACFE Insights

Most of our event speakers instruct from the knowledge they have in specific areas of fraud examination. But Kathe Swanson isn’t trained in law enforcement, auditing or compliance. She’s someone who noticed something wrong and had the guts and determination to shine a light on it.

There are now more reasons than ever to implement an effective fraud risk management framework for personnel in your organization. The focus on individual responsibility has dramatically altered and employees should now be educated as to the risks and repercussions, especially in the U.S. As a result of the memorandum titled “Individual Accountability for Corporate Wrongdoing” issued by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Sally Yates on September 9, 2015 — even those who merely had knowledge that something wrong was happening but didn’t report it would potentially face penalties.

Business operations – and frauds – now routinely span geographical borders, requiring new knowledge and skill sets for those attempting to prevent, detect, and investigate white-collar crimes. As the fraud examination profession has grown globally and the fight against fraud has grown more complex, the need for information and professional connection has never been greater.

During a recent asset search project, the individual we were looking for initially appeared invisible online. We knew the individual used to be a director of a company, but his name no longer appeared on their website. But, with a little snooping and a bit of luck, we had a physical address (and more) in just a few hours. What did we do to find the information?

In less than a month’s time, the biggest global extravaganza will kick off in Russia. Thirty-two national teams will fight for the top spot in the 2018 Football World Cup. FIFA estimates that more than $5.7 billion in revenue will be generated from the showpiece event, and that more than a million tourists are expected to travel to Russia. This event will indeed be a good time for more than 3.2 billion fans worldwide, but it will also be a potentially lucrative time for fraudsters.